Drive
by ericlover57
Summary: Sequel to A life all it's own. The newcomer is in trouble. But how will her coworkers find out in time to do anything?
1. Go Away

**Story title:**

Drive

**Characters:**

CSI 2 Gregory Sanders

DNA Tara Winters

Night Shift Supervisor Gilbert Grissom

CSI4 Catherine Willows

CSI 3 Warrick Brown

CSI 3 Nicholas Stokes

Detective JimBrass

Day Shift Supervisor Conrad Ecklie

Archie, Jaqui, and perhaps others.

**Synopsis:**

Almost a sequel to A Life All It's Own..., but Greg and Tara aren't together. Greg got promoted, and stuff. Read my other story first to really get who Tara is, K?

**I DO NOT OWN CSI, BECAUSE, TRUST ME, YOU WOULD KNOW IF I DID!**

* * *

"Greg, where is my sandwich?", Tara asked, really annoyed with Greg already for drinking her soda. "It was marked with MY name on it! Did you take that out of the fridge, too?"

Greg looked up at his frustrated coworker. She tapped her foot impatiently as he tried to think of a way to get out of the fact that he had a mouthful of her sandwich shoved in his cheeks.

"Mhn ghhmm bhimhh.", he tried totell an excuse, but he ended up accidentaly spitting half eaten sandwich all over Tara.

"Agh!", she growled, obviously disgusted beyond words. Greg looked on as she stormed out of the break room, covered in saliva-coated turkey chunks. She walked into the locker room to get a change of clothes when she decided to take the rest of the day off. She had worked a double shift all week, and she was really exhausted. "Grissom?", she knocked on his door. He took one look at the lunch meat covered DNA analyzer and told her to go home. She thanked him and went to the locker room and packed up. She walked out to her car, and got in. She started the engine, and saw something black moving fast in her side mirror.

"Get into the backseat and give me the keys, bitch."

A deep voice demanded of her. She put her hands up and nervously whispered, "You can have my money. My purse is right next to me in the passenger's seat. You can have everything you want.", she screamed a little when a cold metal gun barrel slammed up against her neck.

"I told you to get in the back bitch! Do what I say or die!", Tara was frozen in fear. "NOW!", he boomed. Tara was guided into the back, hands still up, gun now pointed at her head. She screamed as loud as she could when he grabbed duct tape, rope, and... a hankercheif? Tara was surprised when he shoved the wet, cold, hankercheif over her nose and mouth. "It's called Chloroform bitch. Your friends know all about it. Don't you?" was all she heared before she blacked out in her backseat, being bound and gagged before she was even unconscious.


	2. Strip Her Down

Tara woke up to a new nightmare. She reminisced in the fragments she could remember. She was in the CSI parking lot when she was kidnapped in her own car. SHe was bound and gagged and drugged with chloroform. Tara realized her condition right then Tara was naked and bruised in a metal, warehouse, maybe? She didn't now where she was or what was happening, except for the fact that she was being tortured. She was in a small metal building, with slippery clean tile. The tile was really cold, and the A/C in the building was set around fifteen degrees Farenheit, and she was naked. Tara shivered, but not from cold. From fear. She got up and winced, shen she looked down at her legs and torso she realized she had been beaten by him. She knew she had to keep her body temperature as high as possible, so she kept moving.

Tara had searched the warehouse for any way to escape, but her search was interrupted by a loud, terrifying laugh. It sounded muffled, so Tara looked around for the source. The laughing continued, but then she saw the video camera and loudspeaker on the ceiling. It was about fifteen feet up. He was watching her suffer.

"Why, good morning sleepy head. I hoped- I mean thought, you'd never wake up. Are you too hot down there?", the voice announced before the disturbing laugh started again. It was silent after about a minute. Tara sat down on the tile and curled her body up into a fetal position to keep warm, and she cried. Her condensed breath formed a cloud around her.

* * *

"Hey Gris, where's Tara? We need her here ASAP. We found some new evidence in the quadruple homicide case!", Catherine asked him. He rubbed his temples and sighed as he put his glasses back on.

"I sent her home. She's been pulling doubles all week. She needed a break. Get Greg to analyze it.", Grissom said. He had just been peicing together the evidence in his mind on that case, and he almost had it when Catherine came in, and now he had to start over.

"Greg can't. He's still looking for more evidence at the scene right now. That is why we hired Tara, remember?", Catherine snapped, getting annoyed. "Just call her, Gil. She loves her job, she'd be glad to help out a little longer.", Catherine whined, her hands folded across her chest. Grissom gave in and picked up the phone. He dialed her cell and hung up. "What is it now?", Catherine asked.

"Nobody answered, but her phone is on. It rang several times. I'll try her home phone." Grissom tried three times and gave up. "She's gotta be home. She always answers her cell, and she should be at home. She was covered in lunch meat, she would've gone home to change."

"Oh she's fine. She's probably in the shower. Tara is just fine."


	3. Makes Her Sick

"Get away from me!", Tara screamed in fright when the man who had kidnapped her came through a door. He shouted at herand beat her with a club while he laughed at her pain. He hit her head a few times, causing her to fall, and once she finally fell down to the gound in the most vulnerable position, he pulled out a gun and pointed it at her face and threatened her with a smirk.

"I am going to kill you. Slowly, and painfully. I will watch you bleed to death as you cry out in pain. BUT NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU, BITCH!"

"No, no don't!", she whimpered meekly, scared literallyto death. She saw his grimacing face, andtried to take note of it in case she made it out alive, but it was hard with her eyes blurry from tears as she fought to stay calm enough to reason with him. But it was to late. She shivered and covered her face with her cold, clammy hands as she curled up on the floor into a fetal position and cried as hard as anyone ever cried, begging for her life. The last thing Tara heard was a gunshot ringing in her ears.

* * *

"Hey guys. Where's Tara?", Greg asked cheerfully as he pranced into the morgue.

Catherine looked up and replied, "I don't know. She hasn't answered her phone at home for a few hours. Grissom is going over to her house to bring her in."

"Oh. Okay. Well, let me know when she get's back!", Greg said with a smile as he walked back out of the morgue. Catherine winced. She had lied to Greg.

Grissom had recieved a letter earlier that day from who they think might be a kidnapper. Inside the note was a URL. Grissom sent the letter to Sara to be printed, while he went to the URL given.

_YOU CAN'T HELP HER NOW. DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO TRY AND STOP ME, BUT SHE IS MINE, NOW AND FOREVER.. SHE CAN'T BE SAVED NOW, IT'S TOO LATE FOR HER.. THE NEXT TIME YOU SEE HER IN PERSON WILL BE IN THE MORGUE, COLD, STIFF, LYING ON THE SLAB. BUT, YOU MAY HAVE THE PRIVILEDGE OF WATCHING HER DIE, ALONE, WITH NO ONE TO HELP HER..._was the message across the computer screeen.

Underneath it was a hyperlink. Grissom pressed it and saw a live video tape of the most horrific scene playing out right in front of him. He sent the link to Archie and ran over to the AV Lab to see what Archie could do with it. When Grissom left the computer room, he left the web page open on the monitor. Greg came in to talk to him, and his white coffee mug filled with steaming Blue Hawiian coffee came crashing down onto the dark grey carpet, shattering to peices. Greg saw the screen, with a video tape of Tara, nude, lying in a pool of crimson blood with a gunshot wound in her abdomen.

"GRISSOM!", he shouted, as he raced down the hall, stopping frantically at every single room to check for him. When he finally got to the AV lab and saw Grissom looking at the video with Archie, he was so out of breath, all he could get out was,"Tara ... blood ... help her ... hurry", and he looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"Greg? What's going on?", Grissom said as he turned to look at Greg.

"Tara! She's dying, we gotta help her! C'mon!", Greg said grabbing Grissom's arm, as if he was about to drag him out of the room.


	4. Goodbye Cruel World

"Greg! We don't know where she is. Now help us by watching this video for clues.", Grissom reprimanded, shaking Greg off his arm and gesturing for him to sit.

Tara wasn't dead. She would have been, if her kidnapper had left her for death once he had shot her. Instead, he covered the camera lens and stitched her up while she was conscious and moving. She struggled, but he had a gun with him, so she stopped.Unfortunately, the video that by now all of the CSI's were watching for a clue, played with sound _and_ video. They cried and felt sick as they heard Tara beg and scream in agony from the stitches. "Stop! Please, I'll do anything! Help! Can anyone hear me, help!", they heard her scream. He continued to hurt her, taking advantage of the fact that the camera lens was covered. Sara ran to the trash can and threw up from the disturbing noise. She sat down and Warrick put his arm comfortingly around her shoulders and wrapped her up in a hug. Archie was tapping away on his computer in the background, searching for the webcam's signal output location. He got a hit, but it was too broad a search area, so he focused on finding clues in the video's image.

After about a half hour of Tara's screams and moans, it was almost silent. But Archie heard something quiet in the background. He enhanced the sound, and realized what it was. Sobbing. He mentioned it to them and they all felt sick when they heard the awful noise. Out of nowhere, the lens was uncovered. They all stared in shock at the newly revealed, bruised, bleeding girl lying in the middle of the screen, shaking and sobbing. She was covered up now, but only barely. He put a towel around her. She reached for the pen and paper lying next to her, and began to write as she cried and whispered to herself.

"Archie, zoom in on the paper so we can read it.", Grissom commanded and Archie obediently listened. He zoomed in and isolated the image so they could read it."There's perfect. Catherine, I don't have my glasses on, what is she writing?"

Catherine forced herself to fnally look at the screen and read the sad letter, expecting the worst. "Dear everyone at CSI and my dear family. I am scared, I don't want it to end like this. I want you all to know that I will miss you, but I can't live through this. I want it to be over fast. Sara, I appreciate all you have taught me and showed me. Nick, you have been so comforting and helpful to me while I was working. Grissom, you have taken me in and shown me a great experience. Catherine and Warrick, you guys have been my best friends. Greg... ", Catherine paused, causing Greg to look at the screen and gasp quietly. She continued warily, and managed to say, "Greg, I want you to know something. I am going to die, so I need to get this off my chest. I love you."

Everyone turned to look at Greg, who was crying, with his head in his hands. Catherine, Nick, Sara and Warrick all came over to him and comforted him. He was traumatized, and he couldn't even speak. Archie broke the awkward silence. "Guys, look at this...", he paused to make the computer screen show up on the projector."The website was just updated, and it has a clue on it."

Grissom grabbed his glasses and read the page. "She is here, but you are not. You can't save her, but I'll help you find her body. Look for the 3a6c6c7c9a2a9c 2a8a 4a2a7d 7d8a2a8a4c6c6b 4 6c6b 4b4c4a4b9a2a9c I-17. What does that mean?"

Nick looked at it and said, "It's a code."


	5. Kill The Music Industry

In case anyone is wondering, all of my chapter titles are cold songs.

* * *

Greg couldn't stop monitoring the webcam, but he needed to go home, so he set the site up on his laptop. He sat on his couch, his head in his hands, and thought about how to help as he watched. Tara had found a radio near her, and she tuned to a station nearby and started singing along to keep herself busy and occupied.

_"You're too important for anyone  
There's something wrong with everything you see  
But I, I know who you really are  
You're the one who cries when you're alone _

But where will you go  
With no one left to save you from yourself  
You can't escape, You can't escape

You think that I can't see right through your eyes  
Scared to death to face reality

_No one's seems to hear your hidden cries  
You're left to face yourself alone _

But where will you go  
With no one left to save you from yourself  
You can't escape,  
You don't want to escape

I'm so sick of speaking words that no one understands  
Is it clear enough that you can't live your whole life all alone  
I can hear you in a whisper but you can't even hear me screaming

But where will you go  
With no one left to save you from yourself  
You can't escape, you don't want to escape."

Greg listened sadly to the depressing lyrics she sang and knew why she had picked that station. The lyrics were telling him exactly how she felt. The next song was even less promising.

_"long lost words whisper slowly to me  
still can't find what keeps me here  
when all this time i've been so hollow inside  
i know you're still there _

watching me, wanting me  
i can feel you pull me down  
fearing you, loving you  
i won't let you pull me down

hunting you i can smell you - alive  
your heart pounding in my head

watching me, wanting me  
i can feel you pull me down  
saving me, raping me  
watching me

_watching me, wanting me  
i can feel you pull me down  
fearing you, loving you  
i won't let you pull me down"_

Greg jumped out of his chair when he realized something. He could zoom in on the frequency, find the station, and make an announcement to her over the radio! He grabbed his laptop as he got his keys and raced out to his car. He put the laptop in the passenger seat so he could monitor it. He did a quick address search on the internet and got a phone number and address to the station. He grabbed his cellphone as he started the engine and pulled his car out. He decided to request song's that would hopefully send a message that help was on the way for Tara.

He dialed his phone while driving, and a female voice answered.

"91.8 WROX. How may I help you?", the young voice said happily.

"Yeah, hi. I'd like to request a song.", Greg said a little too sharply.

"Ok, but we are having an Evanescence marathon to advertise their tour, so it must be Evanescence.", the voice responded, not even noticing Greg's attitude.

"Yea, ok. I'll request, um, Taking Over Me. That OK?", he said hurriedly.

"Would you like to add a message to thet sir?"

"Yes. Say, this is for Tara from Greg, and Tara needs to listen to the lyrics closely."

"Thank you for choosing 91.-", the woman started, but hung up and cut her off.

_"We just got a request from a Greg to Tara, he says listen to the lyrics closely."_, the woman said over the radio. The song started, and Greg had turned the station on on his car's tuner. The music flooded his car with sound, and the promising lyrics filled his mind with determination.

_"you don't remember me but i remember you  
i lie awake and try so hard not to think of you  
but who can decide what they dream?  
and dream i do...  
i believe in you  
i'll give up everything just to find you  
i have to be with you to live to breathe  
you're taking over me  
have you forgotten all i know  
and all we had?  
you saw me mourning my love for you  
and touched my hand  
i knew you loved me then  
i believe in you  
i'll give up everything just to find you  
i have to be with you to live to breathe  
you're taking over me  
i look in the mirror and see your face  
if i look deep enough  
so many things inside that are just like you are taking over"  
_


	6. Some Drug

Greg panicked when the webcam's lens was covered up again. He heard her screaming for mercy and he knew he might be too late this time. A disturbingly calm voice spoke clearly into the microphone on the webcam to Greg, as Tara pleaded to god in the backgound.

"You can't help her Greg. She knows your listening, but that won't help her now. She will die, Greg. Why try to slow it down?", the voice sounded distorted. Greg pulled his car over, put his head in his hands and cried. He heard Tara scream once more, and then silence. No crying, no whimpering. Just silence. It was the most awful noise Greg had ever heard.

Greg had been sitting in his car on the side of the road for about ten minutes when his cell phone went off, the sudden peircing noise causing him to jump. "Sanders.", he answered it shakily.

"Greg! We found Tara's location! We got a hit off the webcam's serial number, traced it back to the buyer, and found their current address. Get this, a farmhouse, a barn, and a warehouse.", Catherine said hurriedly. "We'll meet you there. Here's the address.", Catherine told him the location, and Greg wrote it down on a scrap of paper he found. He hung up and tore back onto the road.

When he arrived at the address, a swat team had just arrived to clear the scene. Greg couldn't get the images of Tara's cold body lying on the floor of this dump. No longer a living, feeling person, just a heap of lifeless flesh. In an instant, the CSI and the rest of the team were inside. He didn't know what he really expected to see. Tara, sitting there, drinking coffee and laughing? Not even a chance. The swat team had just cleared the warehouse, and they moved on to the other buildings.

"MEDIC!", Grissom shouted, with panic in his normally calm collected voice, from inside the warehouse. Greg hadn't even thought, he just acted. His legs carried him as fast as they could into the cold warehouse. It reeked of copper, of blood. Greg looked at the familliar figure that Grissom and the paramedics were now hunched over. Greg felt a wave of fear flow through his veins. He looked at the shell of a person that used to be Tara. She lay on the floor, still as a person can be, with blood slowly pooling around her and a used syringe in her arm.

The paramedic's carried her into the awaitng chopper outside, and Greg sat down inside the warehouse. He looked around at where Tara had spent the last three days. Alone.

Greg took a look around, and he felt more sick with every inch he saw. From the strange blood patterns on the floor and walls, Sara said it was obvious she fought back. Greg swabbed a little bit of blood from everywhere, just in case some of it wasn't Tara's.

Later, at the hospital, Catherine was getting breifed on Tara's condition. "She is still unstable, but we are working on it now. We have collected a blood sample for you to test for drugs. She has sustained extremely serious injuries. This girl took a beating.", Catherine's heart sank. "But, it was clear she tried to fight back. She has bruised knuckles from striking back, and both her hands are broken from either defending herself or attacking. Her face is quite swollen, and her nose is broken. She has a broken fibia, and multiple bruises and gashes. The problem we're concerned with most now, is the drug-induced comatose she is in now. Not only did they want her dead, they wanted her in more than one piece."


End file.
